“One must desire something to be alive” so said writer Margaret Deland. It is amazing how much it rings true especially when you are challenged with serious setbacks in life.
Yosuke Kurita was a first year high school student in 2001, when he went out to swim in a local river in his hometown in Saitama prefecture with two friends. Under the scorching summer heat, they were engrossed in jumping from a high rock into the river below. But suddenly the rock on which they were standing gave way. In a second, they fell with the falling rocks.
Luckily his two friends escaped with minor injuries. Yosuke was also not seriously hurt, but his left leg was caught between the rocks below the ankle. Unable to pull him out, his friends called for emergency help.
Rescuers arrived. But the situation was graver than they initially thought. The leg was so tightly caught between two big rocks that the only way to get it out would be to push one of the rocks away. However, the situation was such that any attempt to push the rocks would destabilize the already unstable rocks above and would be fatal.
A doctor was called to the scene. However, waiting too long was not a good option. Yosuke was losing blood from the injuries he had sustained. The doctor then said the unbelievable, “The only way to save your life is to cut off your leg below the ankle”.
Yosuke’s cry of disbelief echoed through the surrounding forests. He then passed out. But when he came back to senses, he had to face the reality. But he kept saying, “How can I play volleyball again?” Yosuke loved volleyball since childhood and he was a member of his school team.
To make the long story short, Yosuke’s leg was then amputated and he was taken to hospital where he underwent surgery and rehabilitation for over a year. His volleyball teammates visited him often and told him news of their games.
When he returned to school, he cheered his teammates from wheelchair. His passion for the game had never died. Soon, he got a prosthetic leg and he was back on the training ground. It made news headlines when he took part in the high school volleyball competition that year.
In 2004 Athens Paralympics, Yosuke was a member of the Japanese volleyball team. Today, he is a satisfied man doing the thing he loves to do as a volleyball coach in a school. What kept him going through all the difficult times, he says, was his passion for volleyball – his dream.
Do you have a dream? If not, it is time to have one
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This story was written by Cigay and was published in Business Bhutan, a weekly paper, in January 2010.
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*Picture reproduced courtesy of Yomiuri newspaper, Japan.
News sources on the Internet about Yosuke Kurita:
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/children/weekly/20040925ya01.htm
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/athe2004/para/news/20040923ie39.htm
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